The second one is from 2017 with hardware version 1.5, but CFE version 2.0.0.3. Should I use the same CFE Version 1.0.1.6 (EU) to flash it to stock asus firmware? The device looks the same except the power adapter and the power plug input pin were different compared to 2016 version.

Can someone please confirm whether the above process (CFE 1016 EU) will work if the original CFE/Bootloader version is 2.0.0.3? I don't want to brick it.

Is there a way to extract the information from CFE (*.bin) in the format shown in several posts in this thread. Shown below. That way I can compare 2002 and 2003 CFE to see what are the differences. Thank you.

These values do not matter: They are 'corrected' by the main system when you 'apply' wifi settings for example.
The newer firmwares enforce the wifi settings for txpower, maxp2ga and so on. This is done in a closed-source linked .so file.
Every time you click the 'apply' button on the webpage the rc/init triggers and 'fixes' the 'wrong' values to match fcc regulations

These values do not matter: They are 'corrected' by the main system when you 'apply' wifi settings for example.
The newer firmwares enforce the wifi settings for txpower, maxp2ga and so on. This is done in a closed-source linked .so file.
Every time you click the 'apply' button on the webpage the rc/init triggers and 'fixes' the 'wrong' values to match fcc regulations

Click to expand...

What you are saying is the Zentel CFE 1016 (EU) should work for flashing it to Stock ASUS firmware? All CFEs (HW Version 1.5, 1016 EU, 2002US, 1017US, 1018US) for RT-AC66U had the same values for these fields except 2003. Still puzzling me. I was hoping people who got this SP-AC2015 router in 2017 with 2003 might chime in with some feedback. No luck so far.

Took the risk and flashed the EU 2.0.0.3 CFE from the main post on my AC3200. Flash was successful, country code is now no longer JP/999, however, some 5 GHz channels are still missing, although I did unlock a few for the second 5 GHz radio.

My US region AC66U had way more channels available.

Instead of flashing the US CFE from the main post, can I flash the same edited CFE I used with my MAC addresses, but change the region code to #a and regrev to 0, to get the 'unlocked' region on my router?

I have edited the .bin file but HxD does mention that the file size will change, and it does, very slightly.
Stock CFE is 512 KB, but after changing the region code and regrev, it goes down to 511 KB.

Hi All, I buyed a TM-1900AC last week and I has been converted to a AC68U with a 1.0.2.0 CFE. Since than I have a very poor WiFi connection speed and signal range, after upgrade to CFE TM-AC1900 (ARM) - (HW Revisions: 1.70) 2.1.2.4 (US) the wifi increased performance a lot, but every time router boot the CFE version change and the poor WiFi connection speed and signal range back.

Which is the better CFE (bootloader) recommend to my router to improve the poor WiFi connection speed and signal range.

Hi All, I buyed a TM-1900AC last week and I has been converted to a AC68U with a 1.0.2.0 CFE. Since than I have a very poor WiFi connection speed and signal range, after upgrade to CFE TM-AC1900 (ARM) - (HW Revisions: 1.70) 2.1.2.4 (US) the wifi increased performance a lot, but every time router boot the CFE version change and the poor WiFi connection speed and signal range back.

Which is the better CFE (bootloader) recommend to my router to improve the poor WiFi connection speed and signal range.

Thank´s

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For best performance install the 68P CFE (1.0.2.5). Don't forget to patch the 3 MACs. Be sure to do an NVRAM reset afterwards or it will still show-up as the old CFE version in nvram.

Hello Ronnal, I have done your recommendation and the speed decreased even more, do you have or could recommend the right CFE, FW and procedures to me?

Thanks

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Are you in the US? The CFE you use affects the channel frequencies within the band. It could affect speeds if used with client devices that don't support those channels. Otherwise, this CFE's only effect would be to speed-up the CPU and RAM.
Beyond that, this discussion (configuring and optimization) is off-topic for this thread.

Are you in the US? The CFE you use affects the channel frequencies within the band. It could affect speeds if used with client devices that don't support those channels. Otherwise, this CFE's only effect would be to speed-up the CPU and RAM.
Beyond that, this discussion (configuring and optimization) is off-topic for this thread.

Click to expand...

Ronald, I'm in Brazil But all my devices I bought in US, like my Macbook and iPhone, I think I doing something wrong.
Thanks.

I recently bought a TM AC1900 too. The CFE is very likely locked down after an unsuccessful attempt to flash the newest Merlin. The resource here could potentially save my router. I'm aware the risks and care less about that than sticking with TM fw/performance. Here is my plan.
Re-write the CFE to 2.1.2.2 (US)
downgrade the fw to original TM fw which enables SSH.
Flash AC68U fw.

How are you going to re-write the CFE if you need to "downgrade the fw to original TM fw which enables SSH"? I think you've got those two steps out-of-order.
BTW, if you can ssh into it, you can flash the firmware directly using mtd-write2 trx-file-name linux

How are you going to re-write the CFE if you need to "downgrade the fw to original TM fw which enables SSH"? I think you've got those two steps out-of-order.
BTW, if you can ssh into it, you can flash the firmware directly using mtd-write2 trx-file-name linux

Click to expand...

I'm currently on the latest Tmobile firmware which does not support SSH. I'm not able to downgrade the firmware to have SSH enabled because CFE was locked by Asus. I was under the impression I could re-write the old CFE (without using SSH). Seems I was wrong about that?

I am curious about upgrading my Asus CFE... I have multiple A68U routers, and when I dumped the old boot partitions and compared them I noted several differences besides the ethernet MAC addresses and the secret code. All of my routers are currently on the same version, and the differences between the routers are in the settings for:

pa2ga1
pa2ga2
rpcal2g
pa5ga0
pa5ga1
rpcal5gb3

I have read in this thread that these values are overwritten by the main router firmware and are not important, but in looking at how ASUS handles CFE upgrades it appears that they explicitly preserve these values.

1) Are these routers individually tuned at the factory?
2) Does anyone really know if these settings need to be preserved or not?